Adrian Kmart store to close by end of March

Closure of the store on South Main Street is among 150 Kmart and Sears store closures announced Wednesday and Dec. 27 by Sears Holdings Corp.

Daily Telegram staff

MADISON TWP. — Sears Holdings Corp. announced Wednesday that the Adrian Kmart is one of 150 stores it will close this spring.

The company, which runs both Sears and Kmart stores, announced the closure of 26 Sears stores and 78 Kmart stores, including the one at 1396 S. Main St., on Wednesday. It announced the closure of 30 Kmart stores and 16 Sears stores on Dec. 27.

The closing date will be at the end of March, Sears Holdings of Hoffman Estates, Illinois, said in a news release. Liquidation sales will begin as soon as Friday, Jan. 6.

“The decision to close stores is a difficult but necessary step as we take actions to strengthen the company’s operations and fund its transformation,” Sears Holdings said in a statement listing the closures. “Many of these stores have struggled with their financial performance for years and we have kept them open to maintain local jobs and in the hopes that they would turn around. But in order to meet our objective of returning to profitability, we have to make tough decisions and will continue to do so, which will give our better performing stores a chance at success.”

Employees at the closing stores will receive severance pay and be eligible to apply for open positions at other Kmart and Sears stores, the news release said.

The announcement comes about five years after the closure of the Sears store at the Adrian Mall was announced. A Sears Hometown store opened in Adrian in 2013.

Sears Holdings was formed in 2005 after Kmart Holdings Corp. bought Sears, Roebuck and Co.